Author's Note: Thank you, Basser and Monk of the Neko, for your kind reviews! For those who don't know, Amestris is the name of the country where FMA takes place. Also, "Nii-san" means "(Older) Brother" and "Sensei" means "Teacher." I should probably use the English translation of these words for the sake of consistency, but I'm so used to watching the subtitled Japanese version of FMA that it would just be weird. So, yeah ;)

Alphonse

It was a bright summer day in the village of Dublith in southern Amestris. The sapphire sky was clear except for the occasional cloud that billowed by like a lazy traveler crossing through familiar country. The air was warm with just a touch of humidity, and the breeze that teased the curtains in Izumi Curtis's house carried the scent of freshly washed laundry. Izumi was at the kitchen sink up to her elbows in suds, washing the dishes they had used at lunch. It was just past one in the afternoon, and her husband, along with Mason, had already gone back to tending the butcher shop. The two men had taken most of the responsibility of running the shop into their own hands, as Izumi now had a little responsibility of her own to care for.

That little responsibility sat at the kitchen table in the form of Alphonse Elric, who was reading intently from a large book in front of him. He sat with his legs tucked under the chair and crossed at the ankle, as still as a statue except for the occasional page turn. Izumi watched him out the corner of her eye as she worked, noting how small he seemed next to the huge alchemy textbook. Al did not have the same insecurities about his size that his brother did, but maybe that was because Al had been taller than Edward, back when they were both still her students. It probably also had to do with his personality and his being the younger of the two, since Al lacked the bull-headed pride that his brother had earned a reputation for. It was a little strange to see him like this, as a ten-year-old boy again, after she had just gotten used to seeing him as a hulking suit of armor.

Ever since they had arrived at Dublith, Al had been spending every free moment he possessed reading about alchemy. He was even more devoted to learning alchemy than before, and Izumi knew that part—if not all—of his motivation came from wanting to be reunited with Edward someday. In fact, he reminded her of how hard Edward had studied when she accepted the two boys as her apprentices so many years ago. A lifetime ago, really. So much had changed since then. How much of it was good and how much of it was bad was irrelevant; the only thing they could do was to move forward, just as Edward had once said to her.

She glanced over at Al again as she rinsed the soap off a tall glass. His sandy brown hair had the habit of falling into his face, especially with his head bent over like that, often invoking a motherly urge to brush it back. After Izumi rinsed off the last plate, she turned off the water and wiped her hands on a blue-and-white checkered kitchen towel.

When Al noticed that the sound of running water had ceased, he was immediately out of his chair and at her side. "Sensei, do you want me to help you dry the dishes?" he asked in his high, boyish voice. Then, slightly abashed, he said, "I should have asked if you needed help washing them. I'm sorry."

Izumi smiled at him kindly. "That's ok. Here," she said, and handed him a towel. "But to make up for not helping me before, I'm going to test you on what you've been reading."

"Yes, Sensei."

"What was the last chapter you finished?"

"'Principles of Transmuting Elements and Minerals.'"

"What are the four rules for transmuting iron?"

It went on like this for the next few minutes, and as the questions Izumi asked became progressively more and more difficult, she was impressed at Al's ability to not only answer them, but explain the underlying mechanisms and reasons why. Edward had always been more adept at alchemy and more knowledgeable than Al, but she wondered if that was because Al had been in his brother's shadow for all these years and was only now beginning to develop his full potential.

They started putting away the dishes, and Al handed her a clean plate as she tried to think of something else to ask him. "Sensei," he said.

The suddenly serious tone in his voice made her look around at him. "What is it, Al?"

"I want to find Nii-san with the Philosopher's Stone."

The plate in Izumi's hand slipped to the floor and shattered, sending pieces skidding over the hardwood floor and under the furniture. Did he just say what she thought he said? She and everyone else involved in the ordeal of the Philosopher's Stone had already explained to him all that had happened, from the brothers maiming themselves to the Homunculi to the creation of the Stone in Al himself. And yet…was that not enough?

When Izumi overcame her shock, she said in a tight voice, "Al, do you realize what you're saying?"

Two slate-gray eyes looked up at her quizzically, then widened in horrified surprise. "Oh, no, no, no, that's not what I meant, Sensei!" he squeaked in protest. Then, more calmly, he said, "Sensei, I've been thinking about everything that happened, everything that everyone told me about. I remember what Rose told me about the time I used the Philosopher's Stone to bring Nii-san back to life. She said that the Homunculus named Gluttony ate part of my armor before I did the transmutation. So that must mean…"

"…the Philosopher's Stone still exists. Inside Gluttony," she finished for him. After a moment, she said, "Are you going to find this Homunculus on your own?"

"If I have to."

Izumi frowned at her one remaining pupil. "I don't think you realize how dangerous these creatures are."

But Al would not be dissuaded. "Sensei, I need to find him. It doesn't matter how dangerous it might be. I may not remember it, but Nii-san and I did many dangerous things so we could restore each other's bodies. We never let the possibility of danger stand in our way."

"Yet here we are, with you back to your original self and your brother taken by the Gate," Izumi said quietly. "Both of you have suffered so much. How long will you continue to pay the price?"

"Nii-san sacrificed himself so he could bring me back. And we promised each other that we would never let anything happen to the other person. That's why I need to bring him back." Izumi looked hard into his eyes and saw in them the unwavering determination that she was more used to seeing in fierce golden eyes. Then Al lowered his gaze and said ruefully, "Besides, it was my fault that Nii-san lost his arm and leg. I knew we shouldn't have tried to transmute our mother, but I didn't stop him. This is all my fault."

"Al…" Izumi murmured wonderingly. Even though Al was partly to blame for the failed transmutation experiment, she knew that Al never would have ventured into the forbidden realm of human transmutation on his own. It had been Edward's idea, even if Edward never said as much; she had recognized the burden of guilt he shouldered, because it mirrored her own. But Al was so devoted to his older brother that he never once thought of himself.

"I'm sorry about the plate, Sensei," Al apologized. He bent down, took out a piece of chalk from his pocket, and drew a circle on the floor that was crossed with several intersecting lines. With a little frown of concentration, he put his hands flat on the floor around the outside of the circle, which began to emit rays of soft blue light. Izumi watched in astonishment as the shards of the broken china clattered over the wooden floorboards and converged over the transmutation circle to form one whole plate.

She squatted next to the circle and picked up the plate to examine it. Its glossy surface was seamless, as if it had never been broken. "Recreating something from its components without having all of them present in the transmutation circle," she said, as though talking to herself. "In fact, none of the pieces were in the transmutation circle. I have never seen anyone do anything like this before, unless they were physically touching the thing they were trying to recreate." She lightly traced the pattern on the floor with her index finger, which accumulated a layer of white powder. "I have never seen this configuration before, either. Where did you learn to do this, Al?"

"I reversed the flow of energy used to transmute objects at a distance and combined it with the theory of reconstruction. I didn't know if anyone has tried it before, so I wanted to see if it would work."

Fascinating, Izumi thought. Not even Edward had been this resourceful at this age. The interweaving of two of the most basic concepts in alchemy was ingenious in its simplicity. Edward had always pushed and pushed to understand the most complicated theories and equations he could get his hands on, for the sole purpose of achieving human transmutation. But Al did not share his brother's one-track way of thinking and was the more patient of the two, so in a sense, it came as no surprise to Izumi that Al's talent would manifest in this way.

When Izumi did not respond, Al looked at her with worried eyes. "Sensei? Did I do something wrong?"

She chuckled and reached out a hand to ruffle his hair. "Not at all. I was just surprised that my youngest student was able to come up with something like this." Then she stood up and put the plate on the counter. "Now, it's time for your training session."

"What?" Al said, and stood as well. "But I thought you wanted me to practice alchemy this afternoon."

"I do," Izumi said with a sly grin. "I want you to use alchemy when you spar with me. Show me everything you've got, because Homunculi won't hold back like I will."

Al gaped at her. "You mean…you're not mad at me for wanting to go after the Philosopher's Stone?"

"Mad? No, Al. I'm coming with you."

As Al's face broke into a wide grin, Izumi wondered if she was mad after all, for going on a wild goose chase (a potentially deadly one at that) with a ten-year-old boy. But even though she would never admit it out loud, she wanted to see those yellow eyes again, too.